A well-known Canadian scientist had a scary experience with antimicrobial resistance after getting food poisoning while traveling overseas. This incident led to insights that complement his years of research, resulting in a $100,000 Killam Prize.
Gerry Wright, who works at Hamilton’s McMaster University, McMaster University, is among the five scholars who were announced Tuesday as recipients of the cash award for their outstanding contributions to health sciences, engineering, humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences.
Wright was honored for his knowledge about bacteria and viruses evolving in ways that reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics in treating infections, as well as for co-founding an advanced course on antibiotic resistance in France for researchers, clinicians, and policymakers worldwide.
In an interview, Wright discussed how antimicrobial resistance poses a growing threat to public health, recounting his personal experience with a salmonella infection during a trip to Europe a decade ago. The antibiotic he was given did not work as expected, leading to the salmonella entering his bloodstream, an uncommon occurrence.
“The first antibiotic that I was given should have cleared up the infection in a couple of days, and it didn’t,” Wright shared.
Wright had to be hospitalized and given a second antibiotic intravenously to overcome the infection.
“I have firsthand experience with lying in bed and thinking, ‘This should not be happening’ because I grew up with antibiotics, like everybody did. So, it’s personal.”
In addition to natural evolution, microbes have developed resistance to medications due to overuse and not being taken for the full course of treatment as prescribed. This has allowed stronger bacteria to survive and spread, leading to a loss of progress in treating infections, according to Wright.
Wright also highlighted the fact that people no longer see their loved ones dying from infectious diseases, which has led to the dangerous trend of taking antibiotics for granted in the past.
“The human race won’t be wiped out but we’ll just go back to a time when infection was a leading cause of death, reversing over 20 years of increased life expectancy since the beginning of the 20th century.”
Other recipients of the Killam Prize this year include Clément Gosselin and Sylvain Moineau from Université Laval, for their work in engineering and natural sciences, respectively; Janine Marchessault from York University for her work in humanities, specifically in media and art activism; and Tania Li, a social sciences professor at the University of Toronto.
The announcement of the award recipients was made Tuesday by the National Research Council of Canada on behalf of the Dorothy J. Killam trust, which has supported distinguished scholars with over $1 billion since 1981.
Wright stressed the importance of researchers learning from the COVID-19 pandemic to be prepared and tackle harmful ideas, as misinformation poses a significant threat to antimicrobial resistance.
“Scientists and doctors really depend on studies that are based on evidence. And our methods and our way of speaking are not as quick as those who are trying to sell alternative products online,” he said of people promoting alternative products online.
Another problem is making new antibiotics because the profits would be so small for drugs that are used for only about five to seven days compared to those for high blood pressure or diabetes, for instance, Wright said.
“We need to change the way people who produce antibiotics get paid,” he said, comparing them to flu vaccines, which are sold in large quantities every year through government contracts.
The World Health Organization states on its website that bacterial antimicrobial resistance directly caused the deaths of nearly 1.3 million people in 2019, and contributed to nearly five million deaths that year.
Misuse and excessive use of antimicrobials in humans, animals, and plants are the main factors in the development of drug-resistant pathogens, it says.
Canadian Press health coverage is supported through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
